Mom files wrongful death suit against Des Plaines

The mother of a Des Plaines man fatally shot by police a year ago this week is suing the city of Des Plaines and its police officers, claiming wrongful death.

The suit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of Danuta Kaczor of Elmwood Park, mother of Krzysztof Kaczor, alleges police used excessive force and opened fire and shot her son “without sufficient provocation or imminent threat to their lives.”

Kaczor was killed in the 200 block of Oxford Road in Des Plaines in the early morning hours of Dec. 21. Police said the 24-year-old man was threatening an officer with a long-handled ax.

“Even if he was carrying an ax, they could have shot him in the leg,” plaintiff's attorney Jay Paul Deratany said. “An ax does not discharge any bullets and Kaczor's reach with an ax was no more than four feet.

“We think we're going to be able to prove and a jury will agree that Kaczor was not an imminent threat to the police.”

According to police, officers went to the 400 block of Washington Street around 1 a.m. after getting a call that shots were fired there. The call came from inside Kaczor's home, a few blocks from where he died.

An officer spotted Kaczor running on Oxford Road, carrying an ax. The officer got out of his car, drew his gun and ordered Kaczor to drop the ax, according to police.

Kaczor didn't heed the warnings, police said. He turned toward the officer, holding the ax in a threatening manner and approached, according to the police report.

He was shot at least four times after refusing to drop the weapon and died shortly afterward.

Des Plaines Police Chief Jim Prandini said earlier this week he wasn't surprised by the lawsuit though he hadn't seen it.

“It's just a standard wrongful death lawsuit,” he said. “We've had them filed on officer-involved shootings before. The Cook County Public Integrity Unit investigated the case, and my understanding is that they ruled it as a justified shooting.

“They are not going to pursue any charges or take it any further from their angle.”

Prandini said the Cook County state's attorney's office review board investigators and Illinois State Police reviewed the shooting within an hour of the incident.

“The officer was protecting himself and others when he shot and killed the person who was about to strike him with the ax,” Prandini said.

Deratany said it was Kaczor himself who called police the night he was shot. He added, Kaczor spoke limited English and likely didn't understand the officer who ordered him to drop the ax.

“For somebody who did not have a gun and does not have a history of violence, why wouldn't it take one bullet to the foot or knee?” Deratany said. “If you could reasonably disable somebody that's what you're supposed to do.”

However, experts say, in the case of most officer-involved shootings, it's standard police practice to shoot to kill, not injure suspects.

The four-count suit seeks a jury trial and more than $50,000 in damages. Deratany said he aims to ask for millions of dollars in compensation for his client's loss.

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Steve Zalusky contributed to this report.